Newly declassified cabinet records show the federal government was told Canada was the “best prepared” country in the world for a pandemic, years before COVID-19 exposed serious weaknesses in the country's emergency response system.

According to Blacklock's Reporter, confidential minutes from a February 10, 2005 cabinet meeting recorded the Minister of State for Public Health saying the World Health Organization considered Canada the best prepared country for pandemic risk.

The documents were released Wednesday as part of newly declassified cabinet records.

The federal government had created the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2004 following the SARS outbreak, which killed 44 Canadians. Cabinet records show officials subsequently developed a pandemic strategy involving vaccine development and testing, a national antiviral stockpile, research, emergency preparedness and public communications.

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Then-chief public health officer Dr. David Butler-Jones also briefed cabinet about improvements to global disease surveillance following problems obtaining information during the SARS outbreak in China.

By September 2005, ministers were discussing the need to reassure Canadians that Ottawa had emergency protocols in place, while stressing federal leadership, training and exercises designed to identify weaknesses.

Cabinet even considered the potential effects of pandemic lockdowns.

October 2005 minutes show ministers discussed business continuity plans for government departments and the private sector if large numbers of workers became unavailable during a pandemic.

But nearly two decades later, the Public Health Agency acknowledged significant shortcomings in its preparedness for COVID-19.

A 2024 agency report said it was “not as prepared as it could have been” to meet provincial and territorial demand for routine medical countermeasures, blaming unresolved problems with existing systems and practices.

A separate 2023 Health Department briefing reportedly identified more than 21 internal audits, evaluations and reports that revealed “critical weaknesses and gaps” at the Public Health Agency. According to Blacklock's, those reports have not been voluntarily released.

Despite those admissions, Liberal MPs on the House of Commons health committee rejected calls in 2023 for a public inquiry into the federal government's handling of the pandemic.

Cabinet instead favoured a review conducted behind closed doors by advisers to the federal health minister.